


Children of the Sun

by FeelTheWord



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
Genre: Abduction, Angst, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Kylo is mysterious, This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-18 07:52:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13677438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeelTheWord/pseuds/FeelTheWord
Summary: "When Rey wakes up, everything around her is pitch dark. Drowsily she moves her head and becomes aware of a mechanical purring underneath her body. Wondering if her downstairs neighbour is having yet another midnight hoovering session, she sluggishly tries to cover her ears, but finds her arms to be bound tightly behind her back. With a jolt Rey snaps out of her sleepy state, her eyes wide with shock. She wriggles around, frantically starting to tear at the ropes binding her wrists, but to no avail. To her horror, she realises that her legs are tied together as well."





	Children of the Sun

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dustoftheancients](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dustoftheancients/gifts).



When Rey wakes up, everything around her is pitch dark. Drowsily she moves her head and becomes aware of a mechanical purring underneath her body. Wondering if her downstairs neighbour is having yet another midnight hoovering session, she sluggishly tries to cover her ears, but finds her arms to be bound tightly behind her back. With a jolt Rey snaps out of her sleepy state, her eyes wide with shock. She wriggles around, frantically starting to tear at the ropes binding her wrists, but to no avail. To her horror, she realises that her legs are tied together as well. Rey feels panic bubbling up inside her and would have screamed, if there wasn't a piece of cloth stuck inside her mouth, gagging her.

Already emotionally spent, Rey stills on what she notices is not her mattress but a soft blanket that has been spread across a hard surface. She breathes in deeply through her nose. 'You have to think,' she admonishes herself, trying to push back the wave of panic ready to engulf her. Her eyes are getting used to the dark and she can decipher that she is inside an enclosed space. This incessant mechanical noise is still humming underneath her body. She hears cars passing by close to her. Suddenly it dawns on Rey what kind prison she has found herself in. She is stuck inside the trunk of a car.

Rey's heart rate accelerates again, the sheer insanity of her situation making her head swim. She briefly considers lifting her upper body to somehow bang against the trunk lid but lets go of that idea immediately. Even if she was to miraculously open the trunk and somehow manage to throw herself out of the car, her hands and feet would still be bound and she was likely to injure herself badly. She also hasn't heard any outside noises apart from an occasionally passing vehicle. Who exactly would save her?

Defeated, Rey lies still on the blanket, her entire being a haze of panic and disbelief. Who had kidnapped her and why? How had they gotten into her apartment? And why hadn't she woken up? Were they planning to kill her? Or was this some sort of cruel joke? She lets out a muffled sob, tears starting to flow freely from her eyes as she waits for what is to come.

...

The car suddenly screeches to a halt. Rey hears someone slamming the driver's door and a few seconds later the electronic mechanism of the trunk unlocks. Rey's whole body feels like a too tightly wound string about to snap as she waits to face her captor.

The trunk lid is lifted and all Rey can see through swollen eyelids is a shadowed face surrounded by a shock of black hair, a street light burning behind it like a halo.

“You're already awake,” she hears a surprised deep, male voice. “That dose should have had you sleeping for at least another hour.”

She feels large hands reaching out for her and recoils in terror.

“Shh,” she hears the voice of her captor, who is treating her like a scared, caged animal. Which she probably has more in common with now than with her normal human self. “Rey, I'm not planning to hurt you.”

Rey winces at the mention of her name. How does the stranger know her name?

Another sob wrecks her body and she feels long fingers briefly stroking her cheek. She is then lifted out of the trunk as if she had no weight at all and pulled close to a warm, wide body.

After slamming the trunk lid shut, her captor carries her with large strides towards an industrial building. A dog starts barking aggressively near them and Rey feels herself being cradled closer to her captor's chest. "Shut up Marcy," the man hisses in the direction of the animal whose barking suddenly turns into a whine.

They stop in front of a glass door, the man entering some sort of code and the door opening with a swoosh. As they step into the building, Rey sees fluorescent lights above her, as well as the man's chin, which is covered in dark stubble. They enter a room which is bare apart from a sink, a table and three chairs. Her captor places her on a green plastic chair and for the first time Rey has a chance to get a proper look at him.

He is maybe in his mid-twenties and his face is wide, with a Grecian nose and full lips. Dark spots are dotting his pale skin, which stands in stark contrast to his shoulder-length, jet black hair. His piercing brown eyes are scanning her with a thoroughness that makes Rey wince. With her tear-streaked face and strands of hair plastered to her sweaty forehead, she must be quite the vision. His right hand reaches towards the string binding her mouth and she reflexively flinches. For a split second she detects a tint of concern underneath his clinical detachment. "Rey, as I said, I'm not planning to hurt you."

The man gets up and picks up a basin of water and a washcloth from the sink. He kneels down in front of her, his large body dwarfing her even in this position. He puts the water basin on the linoleum floor and looks straight at her. "I'll remove the gag, and also the arm and leg ties. I expect you to refrain from any spitting or kicking, else I'll have to restrain you again. For now, I also won't answer any of your questions. Do you understand?"

Rey examines him for a second and then quickly nods her head.

"Good," he says, his voice even.

He removes her gag and then watches her quietly, undoubtedly waiting for her reaction. Rey takes an exaggeratedly deep breath and immediately starts coughing. She swears she can see a twinkle of amusement in his eyes and glares at him. Unperturbed, her captor takes the washcloth out of the water, wrings it out, and starts to clean her face, washing off the tear stains on her cheeks and residue of salvia that has collected around her lips. His movements are methodical and strangely calming.

Rey watches him. "Who are you?" she suddenly asks.

The man halts his ministrations, looks at her, and simply replies, "No questions." He then moves the washcloth to her forehead, patiently disentangling the sticky strands of brown hair.

Rey considers arguing with him but decides that it would do her no good in her current situation. As if rewarding her silence, the man starts to untie her legs and arms, his movements so swift and confident that Rey wonders if he has done something like this before. Once her limbs are freed, she realises that even if she wanted to, she would not be able to attack him, her extremities feeling paralyzed and useless after having been bound together for so long.

Aware of her predicament, the man starts to massage her pyjama-covered calves, until Rey finally feels the blood flowing through her legs again. When his fingers move up to her thighs, Rey freezes. He halts, and placing his hands demonstratively on his knees, looks at her.

"Rey, you don't have to be afraid of me."

Rey lets out a humorless laugh. "You've kidnapped me in the middle of the night and taken me to who knows where. Of course I'm afraid of you."

He angles his head to the side and looks at her in a quietly beseeching manner, which is at odds with his calm demeanor.

"Don't be afraid of me."

Rey frowns, but he has already moved on to massaging her arms and shoulders, his expression yet again unreadable.

Once he is finished he gets up and points to a door at the other side of the room. "If you need the toilet, now is the time to go." After seeing her uncertain expression he adds, "I trust you. Also there are no windows in the toilet, so it's not like you could just disappear."

Rey pulls a face at him. However, having felt her bladder protesting for the last half an hour, she thankfully accepts his offer. She gets out of the chair and gingerly moves her still shaky legs, but suddenly feels herself swaying. The man immediately grabs her elbow, holding her upright. She waits for the blood to flow all the way to her toes and finally indicates to him that he can let go of her. He removes his hand, but she still senses him watching her as she walks across the room and steps into the toilet.

Rey closes the door behind her, noticing that, of course, it has no lock. However she is glad to finally have a moment on her own and leans on the doorframe, trying to clear her head. She thinks about her strange captor out there, and how she is feeling less and less threatened by him. She certainly doesn't trust him, but there is something about the way he has treated her over the last half an hour that makes it seem like he is in an odd way looking out for her.

Forcing herself to focus on the present moment, Rey surveys the little room. There is a toilet and a metal sink, nothing else. Whoever had constructed this place was also wise enough not to put up a mirror, stopping any captives from getting troublesome ideas. Rey is secretly relieved; she has no desire to look at herself in her current state. She quickly uses the toilet and then washes her hands with a piece of industrial soap. Finally, she wipes her fingers dry on her blue pyjama pants.

When Rey steps out of the toilet, she sees that her captor has put a glass of water on the table, as well as some beef jerky and a few pieces of fruit.

"Eat," he says, pointing at the food. "I know, that you’re hungry. Also, my colleague is going to join us in a moment, so you should use the chance now."

Rey opens her mouth to ask him about his colleague but sees him wordlessly shaking his head and without uttering a noise, she closes her lips again.

She sits back down in the green chair, drinks some water, and hungrily eats the beef jerky, a handful of apple slices, and some grapes. Her captor is sitting opposite her and though he is lazily staring at the ceiling, Rey knows that he is aware of her every movement.

She finally hears steps approaching and the main door of the room open. Rey looks up and raises her eyebrows in surprise. She is not sure whom she expected, but certainly not a lanky, very affable-looking redhead in his early thirties, wearing a crisp white lab coat and a wide smile.

He walks up to Rey and stretches out his right hand. "Great to finally have you with us!" Rey stares at him, her expression stony, but she reluctantly shakes the man's hand.

"Oh, and I see you and Kylo had time to get acquainted!" He points at Rey's captor. "He's my right-hand-man. My name is Dr. Hux, by the way, and I run this joint." He winks at her.

Rey looks at him in confusion. His upbeat mood seems at odds with the situation she has found herself in. She replies sarcastically, "Being brought somewhere inside a car trunk is not how I wish to get acquainted with people."

Dr. Hux throws a questioning glance at Kylo.

"She woke up far earlier than she should have. Inside the car trunk," Kylo explains. "Something must have been wrong with the dose."

"Oh, I'm so sorry" Dr. Hux says, focusing his attention back on Rey, concern in his eyes. "You must be having such a bad first impression of us." Rey nods slowly. Examining him properly, she suddenly realises that there is something off about Dr. Hux. Behind his blue eyes she senses an unhinged element, like someone trying to give the perfect impression of a sane, affable person but failing by a very small, disquieting margin.

Dr. Hux pulls out the third chair and sits down next to Kylo, both of them now facing Rey. Kylo folds his large hands on the table and watches Rey in his quiet, unreadable manner while Dr. Hux picks up a strawberry and starts turning it between his fingers.

"So I guess you’re wondering why you're here?" the redhead finally asks Rey.

"Yes, I would love to know," she replies, suppressing a more scathing response.

Dr. Hux eats the strawberry and then quirks his lips upwards. "Well, in that case let's cut to the chase." He fixes his clear blue eyes on Rey. "You're here because you're special Rey. One could say, a chosen one."

Rey stares at him, her brain not processing his words. "What?"

Dr. Hux places his elbows on the table and leans towards her. "Rey, have you ever wondered why your life's trajectory has been so different from other people's?"

She looks at him for a moment, uncertain what he is referring to, until it dawns on her. "You mean, why I grew up in an orphanage?"

"Yes, and why there were never any traces of your parents."

Rey's eyes widen. "You know about my parents?"

"Let's just say, I can tell you why you never managed to find out anything about them. And I'm sure you've tried."

Rey nods, memories coming to her of her badgering the staff at the orphanage about her 'mummy and daddy' and her teenage self spending weeks on the internet trying to find any traces of her parents, to no avail. The only official information she had ever been given by the orphanage was that she had been discovered as a newborn inside a toilet cubicle of a Pennsylvania roadside restaurant, with her mother nowhere to be found. Rey's guess was that some teenage runaway or a prostitute had given birth to her and then left her behind.

"What do you know about my parents?" Rey asks. Despite the terror of the night she suddenly feels a spark of excitement inside of her.

"Not much more than you, unfortunately. However, what I can tell you about are the circumstances surrounding your birth." Dr. Hux takes a deep breath. "So, twenty years ago the CIA had this secret program trying to create what they called 'solar children'. They were giving a new hallucinogenic substance to pregnant women, most of them junkies and teenagers with nowhere else to go, and these women gave birth to babies with very special powers."

He pauses for a moment, watching Rey's face to gauge her reaction. She just stares at him silently.

Dr. Hux continues, "However, details of the program were discovered by a journalist. Let's just say the man didn't live long enough to write some big exposé. Still, the scientists were so afraid of being found out that they abandoned the project overnight and handed over the babies and toddlers to orphanages all across the East Coast. They made up stories of the children having been left behind in drug dens and public places and, in cases where an orphanage questioned them too intently, hush money did its job. Most of the children were too young to remember anything anyway. Rey, you were one of the last 'solar children' to be born, while Kylo," Dr. Hux briefly touches the other man's shoulder, "was one of the first." He stops talking and expectantly looks at her.

Rey sits quietly, trying to process the information she has just heard. She shakes her head. "Sorry Dr. Hux, but this sounds like bullshit."

The redhead surveys her for a moment and then turns to Kylo, who had been watching the whole conversation silently. "Okay then. Kylo, please show her."

The dark haired man nods and straightens in his chair. He starts focusing his eyes on the empty glass standing in front of Rey. She jumps up with a yelp when the object suddenly flies past her towards the ceiling and grinds to a halt just before it hits one of the fluorescent lights. There, as if being held up by invisible hands, the glass floats in mid air.

"Damn," Rey mumbles, her eyes flicking back and forth between the floating object and Kylo and Dr. Hux. "How did he do that?" she finally asks.

The redhead grins, "Wouldn't you like to know?" He continues, "Because Kylo is one of the oldest 'solar children', his powers are the most developed. Also he's just had weeks of intense training with our organisation. But Rey," he fixes his eyes on her, "you have the same potential and we can teach you how to do these sort of things. We just need to tap into what's already within you. We'll help you to unleash the enormous talents that you were born to use."

Too overwhelmed to speak Rey simply sits there and watches Kylo gracefully pull the glass back down to the table, where it now rests innocently. She finally utters, "This is just... mindboggling."

Dr. Hux leans towards her and murmurs with a voice like honey, "Rey, wouldn't you like to be so much more than what you're now? More than just a simple sales assistant? You have it within you to change the world, to make it a better place for everyone. And there's a whole group of people just like you. Abandoned at birth but meant for a much higher purpose, with powers mere mortals can only dream of. I and Kylo have found most of them and they've become like family to each other. Up until now only us two know about you but I'll introduce you to the others and you can become part of that family too."

Rey sits hypnotized in front of Dr. Hux. He is promising her everything she has ever wanted: An existence full of meaning, a sense of belonging, a life where she didn't have to fight on her own anymore. Images flash in front of her inner eye: of her being surrounded by people her age and them eating together, laughing together, training together. Them wielding power together.

Her eyes flick towards Kylo's, and she is expecting to see an encouraging look on his face, but to her surprise his expression is stony. She frowns when he shakes his head at her almost imperceptibly. Suddenly Rey feels little jolts of electricity shooting through her brain, as if some invisible force is rewiring her mind’s circuits. With a gasp she snaps out of her trance. Looking back at Dr. Hux she flinches. Where only a few seconds ago she had perceived fatherly love and encouragement in his eyes, he now seems snake-like, an unholy mixture of madness and calculation glimmering beneath the friendly surface. Rey is reminded of her initial impression of Dr. Hux, how something about him had made her feel very uneasy.

"I... I think I'm fine with staying a simple sales assistant," she stutters, desperately trying to think of a way to get unscathed out of this situation. She looks pleadingly towards Kylo, whose expression has turned yet again unreadable. "And I... I would really appreciate it if you could drive me back to my apartment. I promise, I'll keep our conversation to myself."

She stands up, her eyes moving towards Dr. Hux. The redhead seems genuinely shocked, as if no one had ever rejected his offer before. "Rey,” he pleads, “think of all that you could be.”

"No, no... I just want to go back home," she mumbles, turning away from the men and walking with a determination that surprises even herself towards the exit of the room.

She hears Dr. Hux's voice behind her, his tone suddenly chilly. "Kylo, I think this one needs to learn the hard way."

Rey starts to run, but before she has even reached the door a strong arm grabs her around the waist and pulls her back towards a hard chest. She feels the needle of a syringe breaking through the skin of her neck and within seconds she becomes sleepy, so very sleepy. The last thing she hears is a high-pitched male scream. Then she blacks out.

...

Kylo kneels on the linoleum floor and looks at the unconscious young woman spread out across his lap. He smiles as he gently sweeps strands of brown hair from her face. He lifts up his eyes, seeing at the other end of the room the dead body of Dr. Hux half-slumped across the table. The good doctor’s untimely demise was caused by a sudden case of telekinetic suffocation.

Kylo grins. Dr. Hux thought he could control his 'family'. Too bad he didn't realise that during their weeklong training sessions, Kylo had gone far beyond moving objects with his telekinetic powers. He had started to read people’s minds. And the inner world of Dr. Hux turned out to be dark indeed, filled with megalomaniac visions of grandeur, of him turning his ‘children' into weapons of mass destruction and pimping them out to whoever would pay the most.

Kylo protectively cradles Rey closer to his chest. Whatever dark visions of world domination he might have harboured himself were shaken when he first came across her. Rey's purity of mind unsettled him and the thought of her being controlled by a madman filled him with a quiet but potent rage. Just dropping Rey into Dr. Hux’s lap, like half a dozen other ‘children’ before her, became an increasingly difficult option.

Kylo had foolishly hoped that he could find a compromise between his desire to sharpen his powers under Dr. Hux’s tutelage and his need to protect the young woman from the encroaching evil. Even up to this evening he had deluded himself into thinking that Dr. Hux would give Rey the choice to leave, only erasing her memories of the night but not bothering her any further. Alas, that was not how things turned out.

Sitting across from Rey, Kylo had seen the lure of power putting its claws into her mind, poisoning the very light that had first drawn him to her. Just in time, he used his emerging mind-bending abilities to rewire Rey's perception, opening her eyes to Dr. Hux's true nature. The moment she recognized the snake creature hiding underneath the affable facade, she of course attempted to run. Dr. Hux trying to keep her by force, too power-hungry to let go of even one of his ‘children', turned out to be his death sentence. Good riddance, as far as Kylo was concerned.

Looking around himself, he realises that he needs to get moving. Thanks to the serum, Rey won't remember anything that has happened to her tonight but he still has to bring her back to her apartment. Kylo also has to delete any trace of her from the First Order organisation's internal computer system. He congratulates himself for having been at least farsighted enough to only tell Dr. Hux about the girl's existence. Once he has gotten her back to her apartment, she should be safe from any more predators, her ignorance of her dormant powers protecting her. Kylo will probably have to go into hiding for a while, but his special abilities should help him to stay one step ahead of whoever chooses to pursue him. He doesn’t really mind, as long as his hideout will allow him to keep an eye on Rey.

Kylo stands up, holding the young woman’s much smaller frame close to his body. "Let's get moving," he says out loud. "There's work to do."

....

Kylo steers his car into the parking lot of a downtown apartment complex. He can hear a persistent chorus of fire sirens in the background, the radio telling him that, due to a short circuit, a laboratory complex just outside of the city has caught fire. A dedicated scientist working late into the night seems to be the only victim of the accidental blaze at present.

Kylo parks his car, gets out, and for the second time this night pulls Rey out of the vehicle's trunk. He carries her up the stairs, taking two steps at a time, and only stops when he is in front of her apartment door. Locating his copy of her apartment key inside his jeans pocket, he takes it out and turns the ancient-looking lock. ‘So damn unsafe,’ he thinks, flicking his eyes between the lock and the unconscious woman in his arms. ‘I might have to do something about that.’

Kylo pushes the door open and walks across the hallway into Rey's bedroom. He gently places her on the cushions and straightens out her sleeping clothes, trying to remove any traces of the night’s events. As he looks at her sleeping form, he notices the small bruise that has formed where the needle broke through the skin of her neck. Kylo can also see bruises all across her wrists, reminders of her attempts to free herself from her ties. He has a sudden thought. Focusing his mind intently on the small blemish just above her collarbone he sees it slowly disappearing. He gives the same mental treatment to the bruises on her wrists, her white skin looking untarnished once he is finished. Kylo grins. It seems like he should be thankful to Dr. Hux after all. Even if the man was an evil bastard.

Kylo finally pulls the covers over Rey's body, and bending down to her level, places a brief kiss on her forehead. He whispers into her hair, "We’ll meet again Rey. You are not on your own anymore.”

With that he pulls himself away and quickly gets out of her flat.

...

_Eighteen months later_

Rey sits in a Starbucks in Williamsburg, New York, her brows creasing as she reads through the sales statistics of the independent clothing store she started managing last month. She possesses a natural talent for doing business but pure numbers have never been her forte.

"May I sit here?" she suddenly hears a deep, male voice to her right. She looks up and sees a tall man with jet-black hair pointing at the empty sofa opposite her.

"Sure," Rey replies. Silently amused, she watches him put his briefcase and Frappuccino on the table and try to make himself comfortable on the sofa despite his large frame. She then focuses back on her statistics.

Rey has already forgotten about the man's existence when she hears his deep baritone again.

"Excuse me."

Rey lifts her eyes and looks straight into the man's face. Which despite his large nose and big ears is rather handsome, she concludes, his unusual features not taking away from his attractiveness, but making him appear likeable instead.

"Yes?" she replies with a smile.

"I know this might sound like the worst pick-up line ever," the man stutters, which Rey decides makes him even more endearing, "but I have two tickets for this band called _Zulu Winter_ this evening, and my friend has just dropped out, and I was just wondering if you would like one of the tickets?"

Rey's eyebrows shoot up in surprise, "I love that band but they were hopelessly sold out! You're speaking to the right person!" She frowns. "Why did you pick me?"

The man smiles shyly, and Rey notices again how damn adorable he is. "I just thought, since you're sitting in a Starbucks in Williamsburg and look like someone who appreciates good indie music... why not take a chance and ask?"

Rey feels herself blushing. "I'm more than happy to take the ticket and go to the concert," she says, silently hoping that he gets the underlying hint that she would like to go to the concert with him. She stretches out her hand. "My name is Rey, by the way. What's yours?"

The man responds with what Rey considers to be a good, manly handshake. Not so shy after all. "I'm Ben. Lovely to meet you, Rey."


End file.
